Oakland Raiders game Sunday vs. New England Patriots is a sellout, will be televised locally

The Raiders have sold out consecutive home games for the first time since 2008, thus lifting the local television blackout for the matchup Sunday against the New England Patriots.

"It's tremendous," coach Hue Jackson said Thursday. "It means the fans are beginning to truly like and understand what we're doing here. I thank them for that. Our players do and our organization does.

"Now we need to go out and play Raider football the way we know we can play and give them something to keep screaming about."

The last time the Raiders had consecutive sellouts was Nov. 30, 2008, a 20-13 loss to Kansas City, and a 49-26 loss to New England two weeks later.

The two sellouts equal the combined total of the two previous seasons, with the Raiders being televised locally last Nov. 7 against Kansas City and in the 2009 season opener against San Diego.

Free safety Michael Huff was held out of practice as he recovers from a concussion. Jackson said Huff, who was limited in practice Wednesday, had passed the tests necessary to practice.

Safety Mike Mitchell practiced for the second straight day after being out more than two months rehabbing a knee injury. He could have a role against a New England team that uses a lot of two tight-end sets.

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Jacoby Ford looks on schedule to resume his duties as kick returner and receiver after missing the past two games with a pulled hamstring.

"I'm still holding back until I need to turn it loose," Ford said. "I'll wait until I get to the game and just turn it loose. I'll push it a little bit, though, just to see where I'm at."

Center Samson Satele is living a lineman's dream, as replays of his crushing block on the Jets' Jim Leonhard during Denarius Moore's 23-yard touchdown run have been replayed on ESPN's "SportsCenter."

"I could have picked between (Leonhard) and Bart Scott, but Bart Scott was too far ahead and Jim Leonhard was in the wrong spot," Satele said.

Kicker Sebastian Janikowski was named the AFC special teams player of the month after a September in which he converted five of six field goal attempts, including a record-tying 63-yarder against Denver.